Animated toy



Jan. 23, 1951 v, SAUER 2,539,330

ANIMATED TOY Filed Oct. 4, 1946 2 A? I u Inventor 4 25 [W a a fiemye2194210? Patented Jan. 23, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ANIMATED'TOY George Sauer, ilfittsburgh, Pa,assignor of onehalf to .MichaelCerreta, Pittsburgh, Pa.

illpplicaition 'October 4, 1946, Serial No. 701,227

3 Glaims.

:ananimated -toy which is attractive in appearance :andwwhich willprovide a source of Lin-terijesting amusement.

Another object -.of the-invention is to provide a toy which is simple inconstruction, which will not easily become damaged, and which willreadily'len'd itself to economical manufacture.

With the above more important objects in view, and such other objects asmay become apparent as this specification proceeds, the inventionconsists essentially of the arrangement and construction of parts asillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the invention;

Figure 2 is an underside plan view thereof, and

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view, taken substantially in the plane ofthe line 33 in Figure 1.

Like characters of reference are used to designate like parts in thespecification and throughout the several views.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the inventionconsists of an animated toy, more specifically, an animated turtle,designated by the general reference character it], the same embodying inits construction a body portion l l configurated substantially as shownto simulate the appearance of the actual reptile.

The body portion II is provided with a substantially flat under-surfacel2 and a head [3 is pivotally connected by means of a screw M at theunderside adjacent the front end of the body portion, as will be clearlyapparent from the accompanying drawings. The construction of the head 13will be hereinafter more fully described and it will be noted that thehead is formed integrally with a pair of laterally extending legs IS.

A tail I6 is pivotally connected as at ll adjacent the rear end of thebody portion II, the tail being formed integrally with a pair oflaterally extending rear legs l8.

A suitable block I9 is secured by the screws 20 to the underside I2 ofthe body portion intermediately of the head [3 and the tail IS, theblock 19 being equipped with a transversely extending .2 should beunderstood that the shaft 2' is rotatable .in the block 1-9, whereby therotation @f :the wheels is facilitated.

Apair'of actuating rodsl23and24tare provided atthe ends thereofwith'arcuate portions forming the eyes 25, whereby each of the rods may.beppivotally connected toone o'f the'wheels 122 :byrmeans :of a screw26. The .eye 25 at the free end of'the rod. is flexibly connected bymeans 'of .an eyelet '27 toone of the frontilegs l5, whilethe eye25,:a't the free end of :the rod 24 is similarly'conneeted by an eyelet28 to one'of the rear legs l8.

Itwill be'alsoinoted that the'legs connectediin this manner are disposedat the relatively opposite sides of the :body portion H and that thethrow of the two rods (23, 24:) .is synchronized,

that is, the rods :have :a-common dead neuter with respect to the wheels22.

The upper surface of the body portion H is also provided adjacent thefront end thereof with a further eyelet 29, whereby a convenient lengthof cord may be attached to the body for the purpose of drawing the toyalong the ground.

The essence of the invention resides in the structure of the head [3,the same being formed with a longitudinally extending recess 30 whichterminates at the forward end thereof in a mouth 3!. It will be notedthat the forward end portion of the head I3 is chamfered as at 32,whereby the mouth 3! is open-sided, as it were, as is best shown inFigure 2.

A supporting rod 33 is angulated adjacent one end thereof and forms aneye 33, whereby the rod may be rigidly secured to the underside of thebody portion H by a suitable screw 34. The rod 33 extends through therecess 30 into the mouth 3| and a tongue 35 is rigidly secured to theforward end of the rod.

This tongue is disposed in the mouth 3| and is stationary with respectto the body portion I I, by virtue of the rod 33 and the screw 34.

When the invention is placed in use, the wheels 22 will, of course,rotate as the toy is drawn along the ground, and the rotation of thewheels will be transmitted by means of the rods 23, 24 to the legs l5,I8 and the head l3 as well as the tail "5.

The arrangement of the rods 23, 24 is such that the legs on each side ofthe body portion II will be swung in relatively opposite directions,while the tail l6 and the head I3 will be swung simultaneously to oneside of the body portion and then to the other.

During the swinging movement of the head l3, the tongue 35 will, ofcourse remain stationary shaft or p n 2! ca ry ng a pa r of wh els .22,-t and will be exposed first on one side and then on the other side ofthe mouth 3|. In this manner, it will be observed that the tongue itselfwill appear to be in motion, although, of course, this is only an effectof illusion;

It is believed that th advantages and use of the invention will beclearly apparent from the foregoing disclosure and accordingly, furtherdescription thereof at this point is considered unnecessary.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferredembodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changesin the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as claimed.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. An animated toy comprising, a body portion, a pair of front legspivotally secured to the body portion, a head rigidly secured to thefront legs having a longitudinal slot forming a mouth, a pair of rearlegs pivotally secured to the body portion, a tail carried by said rearlegs, wheels carried by the body for supporting the latter in a raisedposition, means connecting the wheels to the forward legs and rear legsfor substantially horizontal movement of the forward and rear legs uponrotation of the wheels, and a stationary tongue carried by said body andreceived in the slot for movement into and out of the mouth uponswinging movement of the forward legs.

2. An animated toy comprising, a body portion, a pair of forward legspivotally secured to the body portion, a head rigidly secured to theforward legs having an underside formed with 3 a longitudinal slot, apair of rear legs pivotally carried by the body portion, a tail fixed tosaid v 4 rear legs, a support depending from said body portion, an axlerotatably carried by said support, a pair of wheels carried by said axlefor supporting the body portion in a raised position relative to asupporting structure, means operatively connecting one of said wheels tothe forward legs for substantially horizontal movement of the forwardlegs and head upon rotation of the wheels, means connecting theremaining wheel of said pair of wheels to the rear legs forsubstantially horizontal movement of the rear legs and tail uponrotation of said wheels, and a rigid tongue carried by the body portionreceived in the slot for movement into and out of the slot uponsubstantially horizontal swinging movement of the forward legs.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said means for connecting one ofthe wheels to the forward legs includes, a link removably secured at oneend to one of the wheels and at its other end to one of the forwardlegs.

GEORGE V. SAUER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,386,425 Rendtorff Aug. 2, 19211,486,101 Megorden Mar. 4, 1924 1,791,401 Compton Feb. 3, 1931 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 697,736 France Jan. 21, 1931

